New Zealand Accepts Two More Falun Gong Practitioners with United Nations Refugee Status
 

On May 11, 2006, two Falun Gong practitioners, Yang Ziwei and He Yanchen, arrived in New Zealand under the arrangement of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The process won help from the UN and New Zealand government, and efforts of Falun Gong practitioners. On the morning of this day, their flight landed in Auckland International Airport from Thailand. The practitioners were welcomed by practitioners in New Zealand, who had waited there for a while. The two practitioners were very pleased to arrive in a country where they can freely practice Falun Gong after their many sufferings to avoid the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s persecution.

Mr. Yang Ziwei, 30, comes from Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Ms. He Yanchen, 29, comes from Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Both were unlawfully imprisoned and tortured many times for persisting in practicing Falun Gong in China. To avoid the CCP's persecution, they were forced to stay away from home. With help from kind-hearted people, they fled to Thailand. They applied for protection from the UNHCR there. In August 2004, the two married in Thailand.

Ms. He's father, He Sanpu, 56, was a middle-level official in Department of Medium, Henan Provincial Government. He worked for more than twenty years in the department and was a well-known, kind person. For persisting in his belief of Truth, Compassion, Forbearance, he was illegally arrested, tortured and imprisoned in labor camps four times. He has been imprisoned in a brainwashing session in Wanqing Mountain Village, a western suburb of Zhengzhou, for more than nine months. Ms. He's mother, Zhang Hanwen, was a medical professional in Zhengzhou University. She was persecuted many times for practicing Falun Gong. Later, she wisely escaped the control of the 610 Office and gained protection from the UNHCR.